November, Day 14

I am thankful for safe travels.

We just returned from a long weekend in Michigan with all sorts of family.

I saw my Dad, my sister and her two kids, met up with my husband, my in-laws, and later, my BIL, SIL & their three kids, saw cousins we hadn't seen in ten months, and then celebrated a 90th Birthday for Gigi.

Our travels were safe and uneventful, which is just the way I like them.

We're tired and have no desire to eat (we ate so much, and it was so good) or see the inside of a car until tomorrow morning, and we're home. Laundry to do, school to get ready for, a week to plan ... and we made it back here safely, so I could do just those things.

It's good.

Garden Action

The hosta that has been eaten back to never before seen levels
















Our very first tomato of the season ... and it was a yummy one too!















One of our many "zukes" (as my mother called them) ... after three days of rain it was almost three times this size. And it made a mean loaf of zukey bread too!
















Tomorrow, we plan on making a 'Michigan Run' for some blueberries! Hopefully the picking is good! I'm also hoping that my Dad can meet us at the blueberry farm for lunch ... it's just past the halfway point for me ... a bit closer for him. Nothing like 300 miles round trip in the name of good berries.

We've met my Dad for berry picking before ... my Dad is a very fun "Poppy" ... and the kids really have a good time with him. I'm trying to help make memories for all of them, and with my Dad being four hours away, the opportunities aren't always there, so we have to try a bit harder for them, and definitely take them when we can get them. I have always wanted to live closer to my Dads (I have two), for a variety of reasons, but now that I have kids, the ache is more common.

But enough of that tonight ... no melancholy for me, at least not tonight, I've got a road trip to get ready for.

packin up for a visit

We made a Michigan Run this past weekend ... I decided to go early in the week, before my cold got the better of me, which was after I had picked up an additional passenger. So now I really had to go. We left Friday after dinner and didn't pull into Lansing until midnight Eastern. As an added bonus, both kids were awake, but it wasn't too bad, surprisingly.

The kids have their own suitcases, which is mainly to give them something to do. I told Q to get his suitcase out Thursday night, so we could pack Friday after we got home from school. Well, about ten minutes after I told him this, I heard The Daughter in the Bedroom of The Son (a no-no after bedtime at our house), and they were packing. It turns out that she helped him pack his suitcase. For our weekend trip, he packed:

1 pair of pajamas, in a matched set
1 pair of sweatpants
1 sweatshirt
1 pair of socks
1 pair of work gloves
1 bug net
1 bug tweezer
1 lid to a container that stores blocks, that he was not bringing with - just the lid
1 plastic alligator
1 plastic submarine type of toy
1 airplane
8 pine cones

Ready to go!

Needless to say, my bag was very full ... I had clothes for two - he and I.

But, overall, the trip was uneventful. A quick time line:

7 pm - leave Illinois
Midnight - arrive in Lansing, Michigan
7 am - wake up with the children
10 am - leave Lansing, Michigan to drive to Grand Rapids
10:15 am - watch the truck behind me swerve quickly onto the right shoulder of the road in order to avoid hitting me. His front wheels were almost even with my back wheels. I shudder to think of what could have happened had he not swerved and had I not scooted up further.
11 am - arrive in Grand Rapids

Spend the day with Poppy, which includes going to the park, playing on the balcony, building Lego creations, eating dinner with Poppy, Auntie and Baby Will. As a side note, Baby Will is almost 14 months old, and he is about an inch and a half shorter than my almost 3 year old daughter. I think his new name is Gigantor. But, as an extra special bonus, he came to me with arms outstretched and let me hold him and love on him. *Big sigh*

9:15 pm - leave Poppy's to go to the hotel
9:20 pm - arrive at the Hotel
9:30 pm - get into the pool
10:05 pm - exit the pool
10:15 pm - Oldest child is asleep on the pull out couch, approximately five minutes after laying down
10:20 pm - Youngest child is asleep on the pull out couch, approximately ten minutes after laying down

Midnight - I put down my book and go to bed

4 am - Wake up with the crying Daughter and get her back to sleep
6:45 am - Look at the clock for the last time
7:20 am - Wake up with the Son
8:30 am - Wake up the Daughter
9:30 am - Eat Continental Breakfast, which The Children enjoy immensely
10:00 am - Say Good Bye to Poppy
10:02 am - Go back outside to give Poppy one more kiss and hug
10:10 am - Leave Grand Rapids
11:15 am - Arrive back in Lansing
12:00 noon - Head back to Chicago
2:00 pm - Stop for gas only to discover that the front bumper of my car is hanging by a wire and little else. Have Father In Law duct tape it back together for me and pray like a fiend that nothing is going to fly off of my car until I get home.
4:00 pm - Arrive in Kaneville, Illinois
6:30 pm - Finally start back to my own house, which I left almost 48 hours earlier ... both it and I were still standing

I am very glad to be back home ... I still have a pile of laundry to do, a stack of bills to pay, a pile of email to answer, and tomorrow I get to grocery shop. But, with "vacations" like the one I just took, being home is easy.